Friday, December 16, 2011

Medical professionals, many who stand to benefit from such a
regulation, continue to beat the drum that most truck drivers should be tested
for sleep apnea.

I have a short reply:

Americans are 10 times more likely to die because of a medical
professional’s error than they are in a crash with a truck.

Let that sink in.

As Land Linereported
last week, advisory boards including the FMCSA Medical Review Board
approved recommendations that all truck drivers with a body mass index of 35 or
greater be evaluated for obstructive sleep apnea.

Some studies estimate U.S. patient deaths by medical errors
in at least the tens of thousands, making Americans 50 times more likely to die
at the hand of a doctor than by a truck crash.

The annual fatalities tied to wrecks involving commercial
vehicles has hovered near the 4,000 mark for years, actually improving the past
few years and dropping below 4,000. That 4,000 figure includes any wreck in
which a commercial vehicle was involved, including when the driver of a
motorcycle or passenger car is killed while rear-ending a stopped truck.

Ben Hoffman is chairman of FMCSA’s Medical Review Board and the
chief medical officer for GE and. Yes – that GE – the one that manufactures CPAP
machines.

Hoffman took control of last week’s meeting, denigrating
opposing viewpoints and largely ignoring anyone who didn’t agree with his
opinion that most overweight truckers likely have sleep apnea and need CPAPS specifically
to treat the affliction.

I’m stunned that Hoffman apparently doesn’t feel he may have
a conflict of interest.

For fans of the NBC show “30 Rock,” this would be a bit like
Jack Donaghy, the fictional TV character played by Alec Baldwin as GE’s president
of East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming overseeing a federal
advisory board that regulates television. Well, regulates television and microwaves
– and can require millions of Americans to purchase more microwaves.

But I’ll say it again – Americans are at least 10 times more
likely to be killed by a medical professional than by a truck wreck – even a
wreck caused by you.

After the Medical Review Board voted to recommend drivers
with a BMI of 35 undergo expensive testing, OOIDA Executive Vice President Todd
Spencer told me he doesn’t disagree that health problems exist for most
Americans, including truckers.

The problem is, no one is looking at factors that affect
driver rest for all drivers – no matter their body mass index.

Issues like hours-of-service rules that discourage a driver
for pulling over and taking a nap when they’re tired, or shippers and receivers
who can make a driver wait for hours to be loaded or unloaded.

Board members shouldn’t be able to recommend changes that
would directly benefit members’ employers.

“Realistically, the conflict of interest in the makeup of
that group is just absolutely glaring,” Spencer said. “They by no means have an
objective viewpoint. The Medical Review Board has an economic interest tied to
this particular issue.”

The Medical Review Board includes some individuals with
lengthy academic resumes. It’s too bad the board still includes no one with
knowledge of or background in trucking.

I interviewed the previous Medical Review Board chairman
about both the higher number of deaths from medical errors and the conflict of
interest issues two years ago. Read the interview by clicking here.

If
you think the National Traffic Safety Board is going too far in recommending a
ban on hand-held phones and texting in all vehicles, you better hope they don’t
see research that indicates the, um, hydraulic pressure that builds up after
drinking coffee or soda and being in the cab for several hours is as
distracting as being drunk or sleep-deprived.

Researchers
in Australia – where they know a thing or two about being tipsy – found that
when your bladder gets really full, to the point that you worry about every
little bump in the road, your concentration and memory just let go.

Sadly,
if the feds hear about this, I could see them putting the squeeze on commercial
drivers first. Not only are you easy targets, but it'll be payback for those
nasty jugs left all over America.

Some
whiz-bang engineer will come up with a Bluetooth-enabled remote hydraulic
sensor in the seatbelt sync’ed to your dashboard info center.

As
the diesel needle drops, the personal pressure needle creeps upward until
there’s a warning chime telling you it’s time for a pit stop.

Ignore it too long, and maybe there'll be a
fault code for your safety manager to download. How humiliating would it be for
all concerned if the next safety meeting included potty training – and you’re on
the hot seat.

Monday, December 12, 2011

Another successful “Truckers for Troops” campaign has drawn
to a close, and naturally many of us at OOIDA are thinking of the troops in
combat zones. But veterans are also very much on our minds. In the past month, there
have been a number of stories on an event called “Wreaths Across America.”

Fort Leavenworth cemetery(Photo by Grant Andersen)

The latest Land
Line story was about the U.S. Senate unanimously
passing a resolution to designate Saturday, Dec.10 as “Wreaths Across America
Day.”

“Wreaths Across America” took place this past Saturday at Arlington
National Cemetery and at more than 700 cemeteries in all 50 states where almost
325,000 wreaths were placed at the tombstones of veterans.

Having read so much about this tradition started 20 years
ago by the owners of the Worcester Wreath Co. in Harrington, ME, I wanted to
participate this year. And I wanted to do so at the historic Fort Leavenworth
cemetery in Kansas, one of the original 14 national cemeteries.

Saturday was a cold, sunny day as my 24-year-old son, Grant,
and I set out.

We pulled up to the military base checkpoint and noted that all
the vehicles in the visitor lane were being inspected, especially a pickup
loaded with hay. My car was full of papers, magazines and books – the normal
detritus of a copy editor’s commute.

Commemorative wreath (Photo by Grant Andersen)

When I showed our driver’s licenses, I was asked why we were
going on base. When I said we were attending the laying of wreaths ceremony for
“Wreaths Across America,” the soldier stepped back, wished us a nice day and
waved our uninspected car on.

We parked and were bemused to see half a dozen young people
in Revolutionary War uniforms pile out of an SUV and grab their weapons. They
were the color guard for the ceremony, members of the Junior ROTC corps at
Leavenworth High school.

Near the flagpole we were soon surrounded by riders of the Kansas
Patriot Guard, Gold Star mothers (whose sons or daughters died while serving the
nation), soldiers and veterans in uniform, and other members of the public.

Placing of the wreaths. (Photo by Elizabeth Andersen)

The brief ceremony, which was timed to coincide with the
Arlington event, included the color guard, a moment of prayer, and the
ceremonial laying of eight wreaths commemorating each branch of the military,
prisoners of war and those identified as missing in action, and Gold Star
families.

We were invited to lay wreaths on graves in a specific
section of the cemetery.

As Diana Pitts, a Gold Star mother and the organizer of the
ceremony, told the Fort Leavenworth Lamp
newspaper, “It’s important to place a wreath on someone’s grave that hasn’t
been visited in awhile. ... When it comes to veterans, it’s important to do our
best job to recognize all of them, to bring remembrance to those whose
Christmases can no longer be spent here on Earth.”

It was moving to see people standing in line quietly to
receive the wreaths and saying thank you every time before walking to the
graves and carefully placing the wreaths at the base of the tombstones.

A moment of remembrance. (Photo by Elizabeth Andersen)

My son and I each placed three wreaths and then were
reluctant to leave. It was a beautiful sight: the serried rows of white
tombstones enlivened by the greenery and red ribbons, the dress blues and
camouflage of uniforms, the Patriot Guards’ motorcycle gear and children’s colorful
winter coats.

There was such reverence about the scene that I was reminded
of visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in DC in 2002. My sons were
teenagers, and their father had served stateside in the Navy during the Vietnam
War. I remember when the Wall was designed the controversy over Maya Lin’s
design and how it was derided as a “gash in the earth.”

My sons and I had watched a documentary about the Wall, so
we were prepared. I was not prepared, however, for tears to start running down
my face as we walked downward beside the polished black granite and listened to
the hushed voices around us and saw people reaching forward to touch their
loved ones’ names.

That’s how I felt this past Saturday at Fort Leavenworth. You
had to be there.

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